Our Changing Landscape – 2014 FIFA World Cup Preparations

In this monthly feature, we span the globe to examine Our Changing Landscape with time series of medium resolution RapidEye satellite imagery. The RapidEye archive dates back to late 2008 and already contains more than 4 billion square kilometers of data. This month, we look at Brazilian preparations for the next FIFA World Cup in 2014.

The RapidEye Constellation

RapidEye is a constellation of five 5-meter medium resolution satellites each offering five spectral bands of information. The RapidEye constellation offers a daily revisit time to every location on the planet with a huge footprint that is 77-km wide. The data is priced competitively with a base price of $1.28 per square kilometer for all five spectral bands – academics do receive discounts. RapidEye adds a fifth band, the red edge, to the ‘traditional’ multispectral set of blue, green, red and near-infrared (NIR). The additional spectral data available in the red edge band allows users to extract more useful land ‘information’ than can be from traditional 4-band imagery sources. When RapidEye imagery is ordered as a Level 3A Orthorectified product, images from multiple dates are extremely well registered, making it the ideal data source for Our Changing Landscape.

Building of the Estádio Nacional de Brasília

Click on the image above to see an animation of 5-meter natural color imagery collected over Brasilia, Brazil on July 28, 2009; July 24, 2010; August 31, 2011; April 20, 2012; and March 7, 2013. The site of the new stadium, Estádio Nacional de Brasília, is in the upper-right of the animation. (Images Courtesy: RapidEye)

On October 30, 2008, Brazil was awarded the hosting rights to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. This will be the second time the nation hosts the Cup, the first time was in 1950 when Uruguay beat Brazil 2 -1 in the final match. Twelve cities were chosen to host the 2014 football games, requiring the construction of six new stadiums, upgrades to five and the demolition and reconstruction of one, Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha in Brasilia. As of December 2012, Brazil had spent $3.5 billion on preparations for the 2014 World Cup, a full $1 billion over initial estimates with still months of construction left to go.

Brasilia is located in central Brazil with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha was built in 1974 with a capacity of 51,000 fans. Mané Garrincha was demolished in 2010 to make way for the new 70,042 seat stadium, Estádio Nacional de Brasília, which will host seven 2014 World Cup games. The new stadium is the second largest site for the 2014 games, the largest being Estádio Mário Filho which holds 78,000+ in Rio de Janeiro. None of Estádio Nacional de Brasília’s 70,000+ seats will have obstructed views of the 105 meter by 68 meter pitch covered with Bermuda grass grown in the coastal state of Sergipe. The new stadium will be surrounded by 30,000 parking spaces.

As of March 26th, Estádio Nacional de Brasília was 94% complete despite financing issues and nationwide strikes. The final cost of the stadium is expected to be $1.015 billion which is 25% over the initial estimate. The stadium should open a month late, hosting its first match on May 25th between Brazilian professional football clubs Santos FC and Clube de Regatas do Flamengo. In the time series of RapidEye images that accompany this article, you can see the original stadium, its demolition and then the construction of Estádio Nacional de Brasília.

If you would like to find out more about using RapidEye for your academic studies, engineering projects or any landscape analysis, let us know at sales@apollomapping.com or (303) 993-3863.